Digital audio communication system with improved interface

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention allow users to post or publish audio information to a destination on a digital network. A particular embodiment provides a user interface for recording and uploading a short comment, remark, song segment, sound effect or any other audio portion. The comment can be sent directly to another user&#39;s device or can be published or uploaded to a network site, web page, user group or other location. A user interface allows organizing, reviewing, editing, tagging, transferring and other types of processing or manipulation in association with the audio portion to be transferred, or which has been received.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/904,484 filed on May 29, 2013 entitled, “DIGITAL AUDIO COMMUNICATIONSYSTEM” which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/557,445 filed on Sep. 10, 2009, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,467,402 issued onJun. 18, 2013, entitled “DIGITAL AUDIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM”, whichclaims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/095,755filed on Sep. 10, 2008, entitled “DIGITAL AUDIO COMMUNICATION SYSTEM”all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The immense popularity and usefulness of digital networks such as theInternet, corporate and campus local area networks (LANs), homenetworks, wireless networks (e.g., Bluetooth, Fire Wire 802.11x, ad hoc(computer-to-computer)), etc. has resulted in many communicationbenefits. Digital transmission and processing systems allow users ofnetworks to exchange information in many forms. For example, text andimages have traditionally been highly used and there are many mechanismsin use today for users to exchange text such as email, documents, textmessages, blog posting, etc. Images can also be readily exchanged in theform of graphics, photographs, slides, video, etc. However, the exchangeof audio information has usually focused on transferring discrete files,such as songs, lectures, video, etc., or has been the subject ofreal-time exchanges such as with Internet Protocol (IP) phones or otherdigital conversation methods.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the present invention allow users to post or publishaudio information to a destination on a digital network. A particularembodiment provides a user interface for recording and uploading a shortcomment, remark, song segment, sound effect or any other audio portion.The comment can be sent directly to another user's device or can bepublished or uploaded to a network site, web page, user group or otherlocation. A user interface allows organizing, reviewing, editing,tagging, transferring and other types of processing or manipulation inassociation with the audio portion to be transferred, or which has beenreceived.

For example, in one embodiment text, images, geographic location orother information or content can be tagged or otherwise associated withthe audio portion to provide additional options or features. Lists andtimelines are used to help create and organize the audio portions. Oneuser interface for a portable computing device allows a user to recordan audio portion of a limited duration. A progress bar indicates thetime remaining during audio recording. Once the recording has beencompleted the user can associate additional content with the audioportion and transfer the audio portion to a destination.

A further understanding of the nature and the advantages of particularembodiments disclosed herein may be realized by reference to theremaining portions of the specification and the attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a first screen display of a user interface of a particularembodiment;

FIG. 1B is a second screen display of a user interface of a particularembodiment;

FIG. 1C is a third screen display of a user interface of a particularembodiment;

FIG. 1D is a fourth screen display of a user interface of a particularembodiment;

FIG. 1E is a fifth screen display of a user interface of a particularembodiment;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

FIGS. 1A-E illustrate screen displays of a user interface of aparticular embodiment. Particular embodiments are manufactured and/ordistributed by Miselu, Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. It should beapparent that many variations on specific controls, displays, audioprocessing, functional steps or other inputs/outputs and steps oractions are possible and may be within the scope of the invention.Although a particular type of device, e.g., a cell phone, is used forpurposes of illustration, it should be apparent that any other suitabledigital processing device may be used. Although a particular input modemay be described, such as tapping a button or sliding a control, ingeneral any type of user input device, control, sensing or activationmechanism may be employed unless otherwise noted. For example,alternative devices may use voice activation, gesture recognition,facial recognition, three dimensional or virtual reality input oroutput, etc.

FIG. 1A illustrates a selection icon 100 that corresponds to an audiorecording interface. As is known in the art, selection icon 100 canreside in an operating system environment on a device such as the cellphone pictured in FIG. 1A that includes several other icons orselections which correspond to other functionality or applications.Other devices may be suitable for use with features described herein.For example, any suitable computing system such as a desktop, laptop,notebook, sub-notebook, ultra-portable, tablet or other computer;personal digital assistant (PDA), music player, camera or other type ofdevice may be used. In other embodiments, a dedicated hardware systemmay be employed that is designed primarily or exclusively for audiorecording and transfer.

Once a user has selected icon 100, the screen shown in FIG. 1B isdisplayed. Title bar 110 indicates that the screen in FIG. 1B is thehome screen for the audio recording interface. Within title bar 110 is“Play New” button 120. When activated, this button initiates playback ofthe most recent 20 unheard recordings (number is user-configurable).Record button 130 is prominently displayed as a large button since it isusually of primary interest to a user after the user has selected icon100. A list 150 of previous transmissions is shown in reversechronological order below the record button. Each row in the listcorresponds to an entry that includes an audio portion that wastransferred—either sent or received by the user of the device.

In a particular embodiment, each entry in list 150 includes image 140 ofthe originator of the associated audio portion corresponding with theentry. Text 142 includes the originator's name, date of transmission,and location (e.g., city/state) of transmission. additional informationcan be added as “tags” such as image tag 144, or geo-tag 146. In aparticular embodiment, geo-tags such as 146 can be automaticallygenerated by the device by using a location sensing mechanism (e.g.,Global Positioning System (GPS), cell tower triangulation, WiFi/hotspottriangulation, etc.). Tags such as image, geo, text or other content canbe automatically or manually generated, or they may be generated by acombination of automatic and manual steps such as where the device asksthe user if the user wants to allow geo-tagging where the device'slocation has been automatically sensed and associated with a graphicalmap location. The audio portion corresponding with an entry can beplayed back by tapping in the whitespace of the entry. It should beapparent that many variations on ways to display audio portion entriesare possible.

Navigation buttons at the bottom of the screen include Home Page button160, News button 162, Search button 164 and More button 166. Theseprovide the user with a quick way to jump to other pages or screens thatmay be associated with audio portion recording and transmissions. Forexample, Home Page button 160 brings the user to the page shown in FIG.1B. News button 162 opens a section where users can have recent newsheadlines played back to them via text-to-voice synthesis. Search button164 allows the user to search entries by using keywords, tags ormetadata, or other options. More button 166 displays additionalnavigation buttons. Any number and type of navigation buttons may beprovided to allow quick access to one or more of the features describedherein, or to allow the user to access other functions with the device.

Assuming the user has pressed Record button 130 of FIG. 1B, the screendisplay of FIG. 1C is presented. In FIG. 1C, Record button 130 has beenreplaced with Stop button 200 and recording has been initiatedautomatically. Meter bar 210 shows the audio input level whilerecording. This meter can indicate, for example, a signal strength beingreceived by a microphone in the device. Progress bar 220 lights upsuccessive dots from left to right as time elapses and the recording isunderway. In a particular embodiment a predetermined fixed interval of 5seconds is used as the recording interval. Other embodiments can varythe time interval. A restricted time interval may be useful in order tosimplify the interface and to prevent long (either intentional orunintentional) recordings from being created and sent. In a particularembodiment, an interval of 5 seconds has been found to allow areasonable amount of voice comment without being too restrictive. Otherembodiments may allow different fixed intervals in the range of 3-60seconds. Other intervals may be used.

Yet other embodiments can use different approaches to determine intervalduration. For example, service providers, device manufacturers, siteoperators, application developers (e.g., email, chat, etc.) can set theinterval duration. Or the user can be allowed to change the duration. Insome systems the user may be charged depending upon how long a durationeach audio interval is set. An administrator or someone with groupprivileges may set the duration and other usage restrictions if, forexample, the device is used in a company.

Other variations on setting the interval are possible. For example, theinterval can be a “soft” interval such that if a user continues to talkpast the end of the interval the audio is still recorded for a smallamount of time. The audio can be made to be cut off completely at theend of the interval or can fade out. Other approaches are possible.

In FIG. 1C, as progress bar 220 proceeds to illuminate dots until itreaches the rightmost dot the user can continue speaking or recordingwhile they are provided with a clear indication of how much time is leftto record. Once the progress bar reaches the end the screen displaychanges to that of FIG. 1D.

In FIG. 1D, recording has ended as a result of the interval durationbeing reached as shown by progress bar 250. The Stop button has changedback to Record button 230. Meter bar 240 is turned off to show that nosignal is being recorded. Alternatively, the meter bar can remainenabled so the user can see the signal level to know how close or far toposition the device from their mouth or other sound source in order tomake a recording of suitable volume. Content buttons for adding a photoor tag are shown at 260 and 270, respectively.

The recording can be played back so the user can check that they aresatisfied with the recording. Then the user can select Done button 280to save the recording or a “Send To” button (not shown) to send theaudio portion just recorded to the last person from whom the user'sdevice has received an audio portion. Alternatively the user can selecta recipient from a list such as an address book or contacts list, fromthe entries list in FIG. 1B, by typing in all or a portion of a person'sname, or by other means. If the user wishes to re-record the audioportion then Record button 230 can be selected and the actions describedabove in reference to FIG. 1C can be repeated to create another audiorecording to be used in place of the last one, which is discarded. Inother embodiments, each recording may be saved in a history or similarlist so that the user can choose from among which one of several “takes”to select for transmission.

FIG. 1E shows the screen display after the user has selected Add Photobutton 260 of FIG. 1D. In FIG. 1E, image 330 has been captured by thedevice's camera and is shown on the screen as it will appear as an itemassociated with the recorded audio portion when the audio portion issent. Other ways to associate a photo or image with the audio portionare possible. For example, the user can select the image from acollection of images in the devices file system, from a network location(e.g., web site), from a different application (e.g., email, photoorganizer), etc.

Other types of content or metadata can be associated with the audioportion by using the Add Tags button. For example, text keywords can beassociated with the audio portion's entry. A message, words, charactersor other symbols can be typed or drawn and included as part of the audioportion entry.

Additional features can be included. For example, top-level navigationbuttons such as Home, Archive, Replies, and Friends can be provided. TheHome button can return the user to the home page as described above. Thedisplay on the home page can include a reverse chronological list offriends' recordings. An Archive button can provide a page with a reversechronological list of the user's own recordings. If the device is turnedhorizontally then a timeline view can be presented showing theoccurrences of the user's recordings spaced according to when therecordings were made.

A Replies button can provide a page that shows threads of conversationsbetween users. A Friends button can provide a page that is used tomanage friend and group lists. A More button can be used to displayadditional pages or options such as a Preferences page to set userpreferences or allow configuration of buttons.

In a particular embodiment, all lists have 20 tracks per screen bydefault, with pagination. This number can vary among differentapplications, versions, in response to user preference setting,depending upon device screen size or orientation, etc. Tapping on auser's photo icon can produce a reverse chronological list of recentrecordings by the user. Tapping on an area to the right-hand side of thescreen can show a photo if one is associated with the audio, or adefault map image showing the location of a user when the user made theaudio recording.

A “Play New” button can be included in the top navigation for all lists(e.g., lists for Latest, Archive, User). Tapping the Play New button canplay all the unheard tracks in the current list sequentially in aparticular order such as reverse chronological order, or chronologicalorder. For example, if viewing a list of 20 tracks, nine of which havenot yet been heard by the user, tapping the Play New button can play thenine unheard tracks in reverse chronological order. If an audio track isspoken voice, a right-facing “play” arrow icon can appear at the rightof a row in the list. If it is a music track, a musical note icon can beshown instead.

A user can bring up a list of the latest (e.g., most recently made ormost recently received) recordings. Each recording can be associatedwith a recording user's photo icon as described above. Tapping on thephoto icon brings up a list of all recordings sent to the user by therecording user who is associated with the photo icon.

Other possible features include allowing a user to select a pre-existingphoto instead of shooting a new one. Video capture can be provided. Whenconnectivity is poor or unavailable, recordings can be cached to a localfile system for later automatic upload. Text included as meta-dataassociated with a recording can be searched. A text-to-speech processcan allow searching of words or phrases in recordings.

A user can create a group, such as a group of the user's grandchildrenthat allows listening to all audio clips from members of the group byselecting the group or pressing a button or icon associated with thegroup. Playback of multiple new (i.e., not listened to yet) recordingsfrom the group members can be in reverse chronological order of receipt.Or could playback can be according to each member so that all recordingsform a group member are played back first and then the next member'srecordings, and so on.

Users can change their setting on how the playback happens, as somepeople may want to listen to the latest first for contents such as news.One feature can provide a way to either notify the user that the uploaddidn't happen or hold the recording until the user enters an area wherethere is coverage and then complete the upload. The upload can have atime and date stamp so that the location of the user when the recordingwas made can be extrapolated by estimating rate of travel with thepresent location at upload, present time at upload and prior time stampof the recording.

A map display can be used as the basis for the user interface. A usercan run a finger along interested areas of the map like a theme park'slocation. Voices captured from the area will be replayed as the fingerruns over the recorded section allowing you to get a sense of how peopleare feeling about that location. No need to know the identity of thepeople speaking on the recordings. Using position location informationfor the playback device, recordings can be played at volumes that areproportional to the distance the recording was recorded from the user'scurrent position. Voices that were recorded from farther away are softerwhile voices that were recorded from nearer locations are louder.

A filter can be used to select or block recordings with different typesof moods. For example, “happy,” or “excited” types of recordings can beselected or blocked. The classification of such voice attributes can beby using text metadata entered by the speakers, by using human orautomated classification techniques, etc.

FIG. 2 shows basic hardware that can be used to practice embodiments ofthe invention. In FIG. 2, device 400 includes processor 404 coupled todisplay 402, storage 406, audio input 408, audio output 410 and userinput 412. In general, any suitable types of present or futurecomponents can be used to achieve the functionality of the subsystemsshown in FIG. 2. The interconnection of these subsystems can vary as amatter of design choice. In some applications, subsystems may be omittedfrom the device. For example, if a device is only being used to recordand send then audio output 410 can be omitted. Additional subsystems orcomponents can be included in the device.

Device 400 is in communication with other devices 432, 434, 436 havingsimilar functionality via network 420 that can be a digital network suchas the Internet, a LAN or other network or communication scheme. Ingeneral, any type of communication system can be used such as wired,wireless, computer network, phone system, etc. It should be apparentthat many variations are possible without deviating from the scope ofthe claimed invention.

Although the description has been described with respect to particularembodiments thereof, these particular embodiments are merelyillustrative, and not restrictive.

Any suitable programming language can be used to implement the routinesof particular embodiments including C, C++, Java, assembly language,etc. Different programming techniques can be employed such as proceduralor object oriented. The routines can execute on a single processingdevice or multiple processors in one or more same or differentlocations. Although the steps, operations, or computations may bepresented in a specific order, this order may be changed in differentparticular embodiments. In some particular embodiments, multiple stepsshown as sequential in this specification can be performed at the sametime.

Particular embodiments may be implemented in a computer-readable storagemedium for use by or in connection with the instruction executionsystem, apparatus, system, or device. Particular embodiments can beimplemented in the form of control logic in software or hardware or acombination of both. The control logic, when executed by one or moreprocessors, may be operable to perform that which is described inparticular embodiments.

Particular embodiments may be implemented by using a programmed generalpurpose digital computer, by using application specific integratedcircuits, programmable logic devices, field programmable gate arrays,optical, chemical, biological, quantum or nanoengineered systems,components and mechanisms may be used. In general, the functions ofparticular embodiments can be achieved by any means as is known in theart. Distributed, networked systems, components, and/or circuits can beused. Communication, or transfer, of data may be wired, wireless, or byany other means.

It will also be appreciated that one or more of the elements depicted inthe drawings/figures can also be implemented in a more separated orintegrated manner, or even removed or rendered as inoperable in certaincases, as is useful in accordance with a particular application. It isalso within the spirit and scope to implement a program or code that canbe stored in a machine-readable medium to permit a computer to performany of the methods described above.

As used in the description herein and throughout the claims that follow,“a”, “an”, and “the” includes plural references unless the contextclearly dictates otherwise. Also, as used in the description herein andthroughout the claims that follow, the meaning of “in” includes “in” and“on” unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.

Thus, while particular embodiments have been described herein, latitudesof modification, various changes, and substitutions are intended in theforegoing disclosures, and it will be appreciated that in some instancessome features of particular embodiments will be employed without acorresponding use of other features without departing from the scope andspirit as set forth. Therefore, many modifications may be made to adapta particular situation or material to the essential scope and spirit.

1-18. (canceled)
 19. A method for sorting transmissions received by anelectronic device, comprising: providing an electronic device; receivingwith the electronic device a plurality of transmissions, eachtransmission having metadata associated therewith; and accessing a groupof the plurality of transmissions in an order based on the metadata,wherein the accessing includes displaying information about at least aportion of the transmissions, and wherein, when a user selects apredetermined button or icon, the accessing includes accessing onlytransmissions not yet accessed by a user of the electronic device.
 20. Amethod as defined in claim 19, wherein when a user selects thepredetermined button or icon, the accessing includes accessing onlytransmissions from within the accessed group that have not yet accessedby a user of the electronic device.
 21. A method as defined in claim 19,wherein the accessed group is a subset of the plurality oftransmissions.
 22. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein theaccessing includes displaying information about at least a portion ofthe transmissions in a list.
 23. A method as defined in claim 19,wherein the metadata for each of the plurality of transmissions includesinformation about an originator of the transmission.
 24. A method asdefined in claim 19, wherein the metadata for each of the plurality oftransmissions includes a user's relationship with an originator of thetransmission.
 25. A method as defined in claim 24, wherein the user'srelationship includes the user's family relationship.
 26. A method asdefined in claim 19, wherein the groups are based on a user'srelationship with an originator of the transmission.
 27. A method asdefined in claim 19, wherein the plurality of transmissions are eachaudio recordings.
 28. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein theaccessing includes selecting a group of the transmissions based on themetadata.
 29. A method as defined in claim 28, wherein the selectingincludes selecting a button or icon associated with the group.
 30. Amethod as defined in claim 19, wherein the accessing of transmissionsnot yet accessed by a user of the electronic device includes accessingthe transmissions in an order based on the time each transmission wasreceived.
 31. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the accessing oftransmissions not yet accessed by a user of the electronic deviceincludes accessing the transmissions in a reverse chronological order.32. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the accessing includesaccessing all the transmissions from one transmission originator,followed by accessing all the transmissions from another transmissionoriginator.
 33. A method as defined in claim 19, wherein the electronicdevice has an aspect ratio that is taller than it is wide when thedevice is held in a portrait mode position and that is wider than it istall when the device is held in a landscape mode position, and whereinwhen the device is held in the portrait mode position the transmissionsare shown in a table view and when the device is held in the landscapemode position the transmissions are shown in a graphical timeline.